Dell Inspiron HDMI Audio Output

[zervinb]

Hello HiFiVisioners.

I have a Dell Inspiron 15R laptop purchased last April. I wanted to connect it to my AVR (Pioneer VSX-919AH-K) via HDMI to get surround sound on my home theater. I have a few files which have 5.1 AAC and would love to hear the sound on my home theater. I use Shark007 Windows 7 codecs, which in turn uses ffdshow.

On connecting laptop to AVR with HDMI ver.1.3 cable (from monoprice), the AVR still recognizes the sound received as stereo. I did change settings in Shark007 codec's settings manager and asked it to output the audio in the same format as the input (i.e. 5.1) but to no avail.

The same file played with PlayStation 3 Slim gives perfect 5.1 audio. However, I still want to use the laptop since subtitle support is not there in the PS3.

The graphics card on the laptop is ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 - 512MB. On AMD's webpage, it is written that the card is capable of 7.1 channel output. Here's the link.

Any suggestions and help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Imrahn]

U still didn't mention which media player u were using to play the content....that should be the cause as far as i can see.

 

[ontherocks]

I have a Dell Inspiron 15R laptop purchased last April. I wanted to connect it to my AVR (Pioneer VSX-919AH-K) via HDMI to get surround sound on my home theater. I have a few files which have 5.1 AAC and would love to hear the sound on my home theater. I use Shark007 Windows 7 codecs, which in turn uses ffdshow.

If you want a one stop solution use latest PowerDVD. No need to use any other codecs/filters.
If you want a free solution use latest build of both Media Player Classic Home Cinema and ffdshow.
Both of the above options should allow you to bitstream all audio (Non HD & HD) (except Dolby Digital Plus in the case of MPC-HC & ffdshow).

The graphics card on the laptop is ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 - 512MB. On AMD's webpage, it is written that the card is capable of 7.1 channel output.

Yes ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5400 series is capable of bitstreaming HD audio.
You should be able to bitstream HD audio (DTS-HD, DD-THD) to your AVR provided ATI Catalyst captures the EDID from your Laptop correctly. If not there is EDID override available to solve that too.

 

[spirovious]

It depends on media player you use & proper setting.PDVD is good option.MPHC is another option which has to be configed properly to get bitstream out.

 

[no1lives4ever]

Windows media player under Win 7 64 bit does a good job of bitstreaming Dolby Digital and DTS audio from AVI & MKV files. You do need to have video codecs installed for xvid & avc to play most downloaded content. I would suggest uninstalling all the codec packs and only installing video codecs if you want to use Windows Media Player for non HD audio bitstreaming. It works with the built in codecs w/o any special config on my setup.

Besides Windows Media Player, I used Media Player Classic Home Cinema x64 on my laptop with the latest ffdshow build and that also does bitstreaming of DD & DTS audio on my system. I followed this guide to set up MPC HC on my system: Guide: Setting Up Bitstreaming With Your Windows 7 HTPC – PART I MediaSmartServer.net

My video chip (nvidia 330m) does not support HD audio bitstreaming, so I can not confirm if the above guide works for HD audio, but for regular DD & DTS tracks, it works flawlessly.

-- no1lives4ever

 

[zervinb]

Thanks everyone for your answers. I have been using Windows Media Player on Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit version, along with Shark007 codecs which use ffdshow. I also tried playing the files with VLC Media Player 1.1.8 (the latest one as far as I know)

Will give Media Player Classic Home Cinema a go. To be honest, I never liked the over-simple look of MPCHC. Will try it again after I receive my laptop, which has gone for servicing.

Thanks all.

 

[zervinb]

What a doofus I turned out to be. I had not configured my Audio HDMI output to output 5.1

It was set to 2-channel. Got it working immediately when I changed it to 5.1

Thanks for the help, everyone.

 

[sdun1988]

If you want a one stop solution use latest PowerDVD. No need to use any other codecs/filters.
If you want a free solution use latest build of both Media Player Classic Home Cinema and ffdshow.
Both of the above options should allow you to bitstream all audio (Non HD & HD) (except Dolby Digital Plus in the case of MPC-HC & ffdshow).

Yes ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5400 series is capable of bitstreaming HD audio.
You should be able to bitstream HD audio (DTS-HD, DD-THD) to your AVR provided ATI Catalyst captures the EDID from your Laptop correctly. If not there is EDID override available to solve that too.

How can the EDID capture be checked or overridden? I use the HDMI connection to my TV not to my home theatre system.

 

[ontherocks]

How can the EDID capture be checked or overridden? I use the HDMI connection to my TV not to my home theatre system.

What is your problem? What is it that you are trying to achieve?